Posted by: Coach Steven (steven@ars-inc.com) on Thu Mar 8 14:11:58 2007

I think you guys are missing it. I coach an 8u select team and obviously play against other 8u teams. We play out of the Texas South region (Houston, Austin, San Antonio). There are smaller kids 45 lbs. that hit it as hard / far as the 90 lbs. kids....IF there hitting mechanics are good. Don't be fooled, 8 year olds are probably the best age to teach because they don't yet have as many bad habits to break.

We teach exclusively rotation hitting mechanics that teach initial weight transfer and a tilt/turn rotation around a fixed axis. Some of our advanced kids even incorporate a bat tip & rip style of rotation. The goal here is not bat blur, but efficient bat speed in the most critical region -- contact zone. If player size mattered you it would also correlate in the big leagues, but you see more and more Soriano type hitters with great power numbers. Why??? Because they figured a way to harness the most efficient type swing their body can generate....efficient bat speed. Many inefficient hitters generate their bat speed so late that the only pitches they hit hard are way far out in front of the plate...not efficient.

Don't underestimate kids of this age being able to develop hitting efficient hitting mechanics. If you don't believe me I will post some swing clips. Granted the kids I am talking about are not playing recreation league, but rather select competitive baseball, but any kid...rec. or competitive can attain great results regardless of body size.

> from what ive heard yes you hit the ball farther with a heavier bat swinging at the same speed of a lighter bat. But a giant bat and bat speed arent the only ways to hit the ball hard. An article on pujols said he swings hit bat around 87 mph. when my bro was a soph in hs he swung a wood bat 88 mph all out.
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> of course pujols could crank it up if he wanted. sammy and mcgwire were recorded in triple digits before. and pujols doesnt use a babe ruth size bat, i believe i read somewhere that pujols uses a 31 1/2 to 32 ounce bat and he swings it around 87 mphs in the game...so how does he hit so hard? my guess is pretty much great mechanics and EFFICIENCY!
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> your son may swing harder yet the big boys might have more efficient swings as far as transfering more of their energy through their swing with less bat speed, which if they are bigger they obv have the pontential to generate more energy with their body. also swinging harder may make your son or whoever jerk more in his swing causing him to pull off on balls or just get on top or underneath and not hit the ball as solid. theres tons of things that can go into it IMO